


No Vacancies

by bug_from_space



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Cryogenic Sleep, Heaven and Hell Closed, M/M, Temporary Character Death, kind of crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 21:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11495304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bug_from_space/pseuds/bug_from_space
Summary: When Albus and Gellert signed up for the Millenia Project they never expected to find Heaven and Hell closed.





	No Vacancies

“Gellert!” Albus called out, laughing. “Would you look. The cryogenic sleep program has gone to the general public for volunteers.” He gestured at the poster on the wall.   
“What do you think?” Gellert asked, stepping up beside his boyfriend.

“It’s an interesting idea, but they can’t get people to go for the millennia long project.” Albus responded, slipping his hand into the blond’s. “We could if you wanted to.” Gellert said.

“Minerva’s the one at the program." Albus mentioned, referring to their friend Minerva McGonagall. “We could, but for how long?” Albus asked after a minute. Gellert glanced at him, before grinning. “The Millennia Project.” he answered without hesitation.

That afternoon Albus called up Minerva. “Minerva, how are you?”  
“I’m doing well, Albus. How are you?”  
“Wonderful. Gellert and I were wondering if we could apply for your cryogenic sleep project?” The line went silent after that, neither of them saying anything.   
“Of course you can, how long?” She finally asked.   
“1000 years.” Albus said. “Come in tomorrow morning then, if you still want to.” She said, hanging up. Sliding his phone into his pocket he turned and looked at Gellert. “Tomorrow morning we go in if we still want to.” He told the blond. Gellert wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist. “Let’s go to bed, it will be a busy morning.” Gellert whispered, turning them towards their bedroom.

The light streamed through the curtains. Dust catching the light and seeming to sparkle. Albus rolled over, and yawned. “Morning.” Gellert said sleepily. “You ready for today?” He asked several seconds later. Albus considered for a moment, “Yes, I am.” he said sliding out from under the blankets and putting on his glasses. Gellert stretched, before getting out of the bed as well. Albus slid on a light blue dress shirt, and grey dress pants, making sure to tie up his long red hair. Sitting back on the bed, he let Gellert finish getting ready. “Shall we?” Gellert asked, offering a hand to Albus. Albus nodded, taking the hand. Walking out into the living room, they stepped up to the teleportation circles in the corner of the room. Squeezing Gellert’s hand he stepped onto the circle. Yelling out “The Ministry, Project 1567 offices.”

Appearing in the office the first thing Albus noticed was the white fluorescent lights, and the smell of chemical cleaner. Similar to a hospital. Gellert appeared seconds later, just as Minerva came around the corner. “Wonderful, you’re both here, come along then, I’ll explain the Millennia Project.” she said, gesturing for them to follow her.

Her office was nice. A large open window on one wall, and a desk in the corner, two seats on the other side. A few picture frames decorated the top of her desk. Several of them pictures of when the three of them had been children attending the same school, along with their college graduations. Albus smiled, seeing them. Seating herself behind her desk she looked at Albus and Gellert. “The millennia project is an experiment to see if the human body can withstand 1000 years in a cryogenic sleep. What most people don’t know is the fact that it is also hopefully going to be a way to see how humans adapt.” She said, letting the other two nod, before continuing. “If you both agree we can put you under whenever you’re ready, we have the pods prepared.” they nodded again. Minerva pulled out two documents from a drawer. “I’ll give you two a few minutes to read over it.” She said, before getting up and grabbing a coffee.

The document was straightforward. Detailing the risks, the chance that they could die and what it would mean. The last line said when they should wake up, April 26th, 4036. Albus looked at Gellert and nodded. “We’ll do it.” Gellert said.

“Wonderful, sign here then,” She pointed at a line on the document. “and there,” She pointed at another line a few lines down. That continued for a few more minutes, before they finally reached the bottom. “Sign the date then.” She finished. Albus wrote in April 26th 3036, in his willowy handwriting, before passing back the document. Gellert did the same, seconds after. “Shall I show you where you’ll be then?”

The room she showed them was small. Two pods with glass circles at the tops where the heads would be, two screens, and a clock on one wall. Minerva fiddled with a pen for a few seconds in hesitation, before producing two neatly wrapped blue pills, from her pocket. “These pills will kill you if you swallow them. The Ministry doesn’t want to give them to you, but I figured you should have them. We don’t know what the world will be like, and I want you both to have an easy way out.” she whispered, passing them to Albus, who pocketed them. “Thank you.” He said before following her out, along with Gellert.

That evening they entered the small room again. Minerva behind them. The three of them had said their goodbye’s over dinner. They all knew they were never going to see each other again. Another scientist was with them, and the pods were open, waiting for them. “Goodbye, Minerva, I’ll miss you.” Albus said before embracing her. Gellert did the same thing, before stepping back and giving Albus’ hand a squeeze. The scientist coughed slightly, and they all turned to look at him, “Are you both ready?” he asked them. “Yes, we are both ready.” Albus answered.   
“Alright then, once we close the doors, it should be quick, I suppose we’ll see if this works in 1000 years.” He said, “I’ll let the two of you say goodbye.” he added, before stepping out of the room with Minerva.

Albus looked at Gellert, and smiled. Gellert hugged him, clutching tightly to Albus. “Are you ready for this?” he whispered. They both knew what was at stake, the fact that one of them might not survive, that both of them might not. Albus laughed mirthlessly. “I might die and even if I do wakeup, you might be dead, it’s enough to make anyone nervous, but I’m ready.” Albus answered. Stepping away from Gellert, he took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Signaling that the others could come back in.

The scientist and Minerva came back in and gestured to the pods, “Go ahead.” She said, Albus climbed into the one on the left, before lying back. It was surprising comfortable, soft, and a little cool. “I’m ready.” he said as the pod door closed. He closed his eyes and the room went dark, his heartbeat slowing. Gellert’s pod doing the same, as the door to the room swung shut.

~~~~~~~~~~

Albus breathed in deeply as the pod unlocked. He pushed open the lid as Gellert did the same several feet away. He stood up, clutching the edge of the pod for balance, he hadn’t even been awake for a thousand years. “We survived…” Albus whispered to himself. “Gellert, are you alright?” He asked the blond.  
“Yeah, I’m okay, and you?” Gellert asked.  
“Adjusting.” he answered, he was in shock, but that was to be expected. He looked around the small room. It was almost identical to when they had first went under; though there were a few more inches of dust.

“We’ve made it.” He said when he notices a blinking red light out of the corner of his eye. He remembers what Minerva had mentioned over their final dinner. When they woke up if there were any important messages there would be a blinking red light. “Looks like there’s a message.” Gellert said stretching.  
“There seems to be, shall we see what has to be said?” Albus said. Gellert laughed before answering, “Of course.” He had always been the more cautious one, compared to Gellert. Albus watched as Gellert walked over and tapped the light.

Seconds the screen beside them lit up. The face of Minerva appeared, she looked older, gray hair compared to the dark brown. “Provided you see this I can only assume that you both hopefully survived. The project was a fail however, and you should wake up as scheduled, we were unable to find a way to wake you. There is a war going on, and we needed to evacuate. When you wake up the world will either be in ruins or put back together. I can’t tell you which, I can only wish you luck and goodbye. It was a pleasure to work on this assignment.” And with that the screen went dark again. Leaving only the glowing symbol of the organization that had controlled the project. They stood in silence for a few minutes before they both look at the date on the date on the clock. April, 26th, 4036. Exactly a 1000 years after they had first entered the pods in 3036. The experiment had worked. They had both survived a thousand years in a cryogenic sleep without any clear problems, but the project was a fail.

Running a hand through his auburn hair Albus sighed and looked at Gellert. “Should we see what state the world in then?” Gellert nodded and they approached the door, both grabbing a handle and push the door open. Grabbing hands they prepared to see what the world was like. Neither of them had any idea what to expect.

What greets them is a barren wasteland. The crumbling remains of buildings littered the ground. The ground covered in ash and dust, and human bones lie scattered like pieces of a puzzle. Albus inhaled sharply, he had never expected this, even though he knew it was a possibility. “I suppose that answers our question.” Gellert stated. Albus nodded. “Oh how true. Still, 1000 years later and the entire human race is extinct, it was bound to happen one day though.” Albus continues.

“Do we have anything left to stay for?” Albus finally asks after a few minutes of heavy silence. Gellert thinks for a few moments of tense calm. “No, we don’t,” he finally answers. “We might as well see what happens after we die then, complete the last puzzle piece.” he continued. They had both been prepared for this situation, in the unlikely chance that it would actually happen.

Gellert looks at Albus, and then back at the building they had exited. “Do you remember the pills we hid when we went under, in case of something like this?” Albus nods once, “It’s time we used them, don’t you think?” Albus nods again, glad Minerva had given them the pills.

Entering the room Albus kneeled down beside the pod he had used. They had hidden the pills before they had entered the room the last time. Albus had found Sliding over a loose piece of the flooring, he revealed the two blue pills. Picking them up he handed one to Gellert. “Ready?” Gellert asked, unwrapping the pill, letting the small blue pill roll around in his palm.

“As ready as I can be.” He answers unwrapping his own pill. Sliding his hand into Gellert’s he nods once, raising his hand to his lips. Gellert does the same and they both swallow the pills at the same time, closing their eyes as they do.

Death is not like Albus had expected. It's cold and dark, and the strange feeling of not having senses is perhaps the oddest part. It isn't a bad feeling, just odd. Albus isn’t sure how long he spends in this state, waiting for something- anything, to happen. it surprises him when the darkness starts lightening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world lightens in stages of grey, no solid edges. It surprises him when he sees he’s still holding hands with Gellert, and that some of his senses had returned. The first thing he notices about the place they are in is the sign reading ‘No Vacancies’ in glowing red neon letters. Next, he notices the two gates standing on either side of the sign. One gate is tall and seems like tarnished silver. The other gate is covered in flakes of rust, over a much darker, almost black metal. Both gates had heavy padlocks with chains holding the gates closed. Neither gate look like they had seen much use in a long time.

“Heaven and Hell…” Albus whispered, to himself. “I didn’t even know it was possible to close the gates to the afterlife.” he remarked after a few seconds.  
“Apparently it is.” Gellert added. Albus stepped up to the gate on the left, the gate into Heaven, and gave the gate a solid shake. The air was filled with the sound of the shaking metal, but nothing happened. Stepping back he sent a satisfied look at the gate. “Well I suppose that answers my question, wether or not they were locked.” he stated, crossing his arms over his chest he thought for a few minutes. “What do we do now?” Albus asked after several minutes. “We’ve been locked out of both Heaven and Hell, the human race is extinct, and we’re dead.” he listed off. Gellert snorted,   
“I suppose you’re right. I don’t remember them going over what to do in case of the end of everything though. I suppose we have to find something to amuse ourselves for the rest of eternity.”

The two of them stood there thinking for what felt like hours, time didn’t seem to matter anymore. “There’s nothing stopping us from going back, you know…” Gellert announced. “We could if you wanted. Go back, restart the human race, we’re both smart enough, and we carry DNA, so we could create clones, of a sort. Rebuild, make humans better, stronger. There’s nothing stopping us.” he continued. It was an interesting proposition. “How would we do it though? Unless there’s some way to find the equipment we need, we don’t have anything we need.” Albus countered.

“Is there anyway to fix the cryogenic sleep pods to clone?” Gellert asked after several minutes of peace. “Maybe, I’m not sure.”  
“Should we find out?”  
“That sounds interesting, but how do we get back?” Albus said, sending a look around the white expanse of space surrounding them. “What if we die again? We can’t exactly go to Heaven or Hell, and where else do we go, other than back?” Gellert asked.  
“Alright, how?” Albus said.  
“Climb the gates and fall off?”  
“Will it work?”  
“It can’t do much more harm.”  
“You have a point, Gel. Fine, let’s try it.” Albus said, walking towards the gates.

Pulling himself to one of the cross pieces, feet resting on it, Albus pulled himself up higher; until he was balanced precariously on the top. Gellert coming up several seconds later. “Ready?” Albus asked, eyes looking down at what might have been 20 feet, and what might have been 100 feet. “Is there any other way to be?” he responded. Looking around once more Albus pushed himself off the edge. The air rushing past his head. Eyes closed he prepared for the landing. Hitting the ground, he noticed the pain flashing through his body. The familiar feeling of death claiming him once again.

Like Gellert said they woke up back on Earth. Alive, or at least, returned from the dead. That might have to be the most surprising part of returning from the dead. Sitting up, he sent a looked around for Gellert. Spotting him he relaxed. “We should go.” he said after a minute of catching up on breath, and absorbing the surroundings. “We should make sure this insane plan works.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, a couple notes. 1. I started this /months/ ago, and forgot about it, so I apologize if it isn't great, and if it seems like a bit of a rushed ending. 2. Don't take this super seriously, really. 3. This was based off of a pinterest prompt.


End file.
